Around the Solent.

When the promised Easterly came Ti Gitu headed West and had a good sail up Southampton Water to Marchwood sailing club. The club is really friendly and very accommodating.

Southampton Water is incredibly commercial with container ships docking opposite the club on a daily basis and cruise ships coming and going.

So a pleasant few days were spent at Marchwood with Nigel a friend from my youth visiting for a day.

It was then down to the Hamble river to spend time with other friends Dave and Francis.

Then a really good sail hard on the wind over to Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight for a few days before getting out as a bank holiday was coming and it gets totally full with Hooray Henries at weekends and holidays which really spoils the place. We headed up to Newport which was very full but there was room for us alongside the wall.

We took a cycle ride to Cowes and were amazed that the harbour virtually emptied on the Monday.

Later in the week we will head back towards Chichester and back into Emsworth to keep some appointments.

 

Out again.

After a month working on the engine, having the cylinder head totally refurbished by Banda Engineering in Portsmouth and fitting all new water hoses, oil pressure and water temperature gauges and new oil pressure senders we were finally ready to set off again on 15^th August.

We had met the owners of a motor boat ‘Mr Toad’ which was sold and the new owners suggested that we visit their yacht club ‘Marchwood Yacht Club’ a long way up Southampton water. We contacted the club who said there should be a berth for us on their pontoon.

So we left the marina and after just a few yards our new water temperature gauge told us our engine was boiling. It wasn’t.

We stopped on the pontoon just South of Emsworth and found that I had earthed both new gauges through a dodgy earth which when resolved cured the problem and the gauges started showing proper readings. PHEW!!!

We then went round to the Thorney Channel to anchor for a couple of nights and wait for the promised Easterly wind to blow us West towards Southampton water.

 

Blown head gasket

So we sat in Newhaven for a couple of nights putting up with the ferry arriving at 05:00 and the sand barge at 4 to 5 am. Very disturbed sleep, only a place to go in an emergency!!

On the Saturday preparing to leave I checked the water and oil to find that the oil looked like whipped cream. Blown head gasket.

What to do?

I found that Halfords sold a head gasket sealer called ‘Wundaweld’. This is for sealing head gaskets etc. Deciding that doing the job in Newhaven was a No No I decided to try this magic substance.

I flushed out the water system while Mo went to Halfords and purchased the Wundaweld and a couple of gallons of oil and then following the instructions I changed the oil, re filled the system with clean water, and applied the Wundaweld.

We ran the engine for 3 hours at the pontoon and all seemed well so we set off at 03:00 heading back to Emsworth.

The promised light wind didn’t come so we motored with me checking the water and dipping the oil every 15 miniutes to start with and then every half an hour all the way back to Chichester.

The marina made sure our space was clear and we arrived in the evening.

I pressure tested the cylinders which all seemed OK and so the top of the engine came to pieces and the camshaft bearings looked like new so the head went to Banda Engineering in Portsmouth for a complete overhaul. This included a thorough clean, a pressure test, skimming the face, valves ground in and camshaft re fitted and re shimmed. All for a very reasonable price.

While doing the job I decided to replace all the hoses and other rubber parts and re paint things.

All that took two weeks and the only thing holding up the re assembly is that wonderful ‘Evri’ have managed to misplace the paint which I am still waiting for before starting the re build.

 

East in a force 7 to Newhaven

We left Emsworth on Monday 3^rd in strongish winds and anchored in Thorney finally deciding to head East on the Wednesday. The winds were forecast to increase later in the day and we crept out over Chichester bar at 1.5 hours after low water. There wasn’t much swell and we had a minimum of 1 metre under our keel all the time.

The sail started ok with a good breeze from the West until after rounding Selsey Bill it went light for a few hours. The tide would turn against us for the last few hours but only at 1 knot so we decided to head for Newhaven a port we have not entered before.

Just after the tide turned the wind increased to a F7 and gave us a really bouncy ride until we rounded the breakwater and dropped the last small part of the fore sail.

Newhaven is a busy commercial port with ferries and ships coming and going at all times of day and night. The marina is rather ‘run down’ but the visitor pontoon is new and the charges are reasonable compared to Brighton and Eastbourne – except for the £5.00 a day charge for electricity. We will run the generator.

After some rest we will continue towards Dover.

 

Waiting to go.

We were waiting until after the 12^th June so that Mo could see the hand surgeon as a small but important operation was needed. We saw the surgeon on the Monday morning and he arranged for the operation on the Wednesday. Amazing!!

This was of course at a private hospital but the operation was funded by the NHS.

We think the surgeon fitted Mo in so that she could have a pain free summer. Many thanks to him.

That meant we had to wait around for checks etc. and we now hope to leave on the 4^th July and head East.

 

Saturday 3^rd June Ti Gitu left Emsworth marina and after a couple of days at anchor went to Cowes to pick up fuel. This is for our winter heating which we like to ensure having from the beginning of summer.

On the way we said a last farewell to our great friend Phillip Rose and with both of us in tears committed his ashes to the sea, before finishing a really nice gentle sail.

After collecting fuel we went onto a harbour authority pontoon for which we were charged £21, up from the £18 of last time.

The next day it was up to Newport for a couple of days and a good long cycle ride before leaving on Thursday to wait on one of the Folly pontoons having been told that Ti Gitu couldn’t use the other one.

For this ‘pleasure’ we were charged £24 and when I queried it I was smirkingly told that was the new price and that it was published on the internet. It is not!! Actually the only price published is from 2 years ago and is £18. I wonder what Trading Standards would make of that.

It is obvious why many cruisers report on the chat sites that they are unhappy with visiting the area and just feel ‘ripped off’ all the time. It seems that the only people happy to visit are the ‘Hooray Henries’ who keep their boats in the Southampton area and zip across at weekends to visit local restaurants.

We will be joining the growing numbers avoiding the place.

The Friday saw slightly stronger Easterlies and we sailed close hauled back to Chichester, anchoring to wait for the tide to get back into the marina for a few days. Then hopefully we will head off East and visit The Netherlands for a while.

 

Portland to the Isle of Wight

Portland was good and we had several night there and for the first time the harbourmaster came for harbour dues. £9.70 seems a bit excessive but we have had lots of free nights there so can’t complain too much.

The wind was forecast to go Easterly for quite a while so we headed to Swanage for one night and then on to Yarmouth on the isle of Wight where we stayed on the unattached pontoon and used the dinghy to get ashore. I have to say that the berthing masters are really helpful and expert at helping boats into spots in the really crowded marina.

Ashore we went and looked at Fort Victoria and saw the show in the planetarium which was good.

After a couple of nights Ti Gitu moved on to Newtown Creek. This is incredibly busy, especially during the day when ‘day tripper’ boats enter to anchor for a while.

At low water we watched a Westerly 33 come in and anchor close to us and fitted a fender to trip the anchor which it did really well at midnight, which was high tide, and drifted down to hit Ti Gitu. There were three chaps aboard who didn’t seem to have a clue and took ages to disentangle their boat from us before attempting to re anchor. First attempt at re anchoring was too close to us, second was too close to another yacht and the third attempt in the entrance to the creek succeeded and we all went back to bed.

The next morning they just upped anchor and left without talking to us or asking if there was any damage so if you have a Westerly 33ft ketch called Celtic Dawn  anywhere near you’d best beware!!

There is no damage to Ti Gitu as far as we can see but we are keeping our fenders down!

Next we will move onto Newport for another visit for a few days where we can get out on our bikes again and catch up with an old friend.